[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 11 (Monday, January 22, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S197-S199]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                            Border Security

  Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, President Biden, last Friday, garnered a 
lot of attention for his comments on the border crisis.
  When asked by a reporter if the border was secure, the President 
didn't hesitate; he didn't equivocate. He said, ``No, it's not.''
  ``No, it's not.''
  On its own, that statement is not particularly shocking because it is 
actually true. What is shocking is that it represents a 180-degree flip 
from the position taken over and over and over by the Biden 
administration, from the President to the Vice President to the 
Secretary of Homeland Security, on down.
  The fact of the matter is that under President Biden's leadership, 
the Federal Government has shattered virtually every record on the 
books when it comes to illegal border crossings. In the last 3 years, 
Customs and Border Protection has logged more than 6.7 million--6.7 
million--border crossings. At the same time, the cartels have 
trafficked record amounts of fentanyl across the southern border, 
fueling the overdose epidemic.

  Gang members, dangerous criminals, and potential terrorists--people 
on the Terrorist Watchlist--have used the chaos on the border to 
attempt to sneak into the United States. And 1.7 million of them, the 
so-called ``got-aways,'' that were detected on cameras and other 
various sensors simply have evaded law enforcement, and the Biden 
administration can't tell you who these people are, what they are 
doing, and what their intentions are while they are here.
  Communities across the country, not just in my State--in Texas--but 
across the country have been forced to carry the burden of caring for 
thousands of immigrants who cross our border every day.
  No, the border is not secure, not in the least. Anyone who has been 
paying attention for the last 3 years could have told you that.
  But it took the President 3 years to finally be willing to speak the 
truth, because for President Biden, this is a shocking reversal. After 
all, as I said, the senior most leaders of the administration have 
spent the last 3 years trying to convince the American people that 
there is no such thing as the Biden border crisis.
  The White House press secretary has said, ``The border is secure.'' 
Secretary Mayorkas, the Secretary tasked with the border security 
responsibilities, the Department of Homeland Security, he said, ``The 
border is secure.''
  Vice President Harris, the anointed border czar for President Biden, 
said, ``The border is secure.''
  This is the same line that has been parroted over and over and over 
by leaders throughout the Biden administration. And it is not true. It 
is not true.
  On Friday, President Biden not only admitted that the border is not 
secure, he went on to say he believes it hasn't been secure for the 
last 10 years. That means every single attempt by his administration to 
assure the American people that the Biden administration was performing 
its responsibilities by enforcing the laws to secure the border has 
been untrue.
  I don't know how to say this charitably. I don't easily accuse a 
President of the United States for intentionally telling an untruth, 
but it appears that that is absolutely the case. By his own account, 
President Biden has known all along the border was not secure, but he 
chose to gaslight the American people with untrue assurances that 
everything was just fine.
  Sort of like the story goes: ``Don't believe your lying eyes,'' when 
the American people see caravans of migrants coming up to the border, 
because they know that President Biden has laid out the welcome mat and 
will release them into the interior of the United States. That is a 
huge magnet, not only for people coming from Mexico, but around the 
world.

[[Page S198]]

  That is what has changed under the Biden administration is that this 
is not a regional, this is not even an economic issue. This is a matter 
of the human smuggling networks making billions of dollars smuggling 
people from around the world and, unfortunately, overwhelming the 
Border Patrol to the point that the Border Patrol is processing 
paperwork, providing transportation and care for unaccompanied 
children, who were likewise incentivized to come to the United States, 
and here come the drugs that took the lives of 108,000 Americans last 
year alone.
  Finally, when the President was asked if he believed his own policies 
had enabled this crisis, he offered another shocking statement: ``No.''
  So he said the border is not secure. He admitted that, finally. He 
said it hadn't been for 10 years. And he was asked whether his own 
policies had enabled that, and he said no.
  I don't think you can have it both ways. There is a huge difference 
between the number of border crossings that we saw during the previous 
administration, during the Trump administration and compared to the 
Biden administration.
  None of the laws have changed. It is simply the willingness or, in 
the case of the Biden administration, the unwillingness to actually 
enforce the law.
  Since President Biden took office, the United States has logged, as I 
said, more than 6.7 million illegal border encounters. That is higher 
than the 8 years under President Obama and the 4 years under President 
Trump. So in 3 years, he has managed to accomplish something that took 
12 years in the previous two administrations.
  The fact that President Biden believes his policies have nothing to 
do with this sea change is absolutely unbelievable. It is not 
credible--that is what I mean. It is unbelievable. You can't believe 
it. This administration's refusal to take its responsibility for this 
crisis is pathetic, and it should be embarrassing. But, sadly, it is 
nothing new. We have seen this song and dance many times over.
  The Supreme Court of the United States, I am told from published 
reports, just said that the State of Texas, which was trying to fill 
the breach left by the failure of the Federal Government and the Biden 
administration to do its job couldn't put razor wire or impediments to 
illegal immigration on the border.
  I haven't read the opinion, but, presumably, they say it is the 
Federal Government's exclusive authority, and the States can't enforce 
that. But if the Federal Government is not going to do its job, why 
can't the State do it? It doesn't affect people here in Washington, DC, 
directly, although we have heard the mayor of Washington, DC, 
complaining about the fact that migrants have come to the District of 
Columbia. But it does affect my State.
  We have 1,200 miles of common border. The huge tsunami of humanity 
coming across the border has affected my State disproportionately 
because we are at ground zero. And now, because Mayor Adams in New York 
or Mayer Bowser in Washington, DC, or Governor Pritzker in Illinois, it 
is impacting them in a rather minor way compared to the way it has 
affected my State over the recent years.
  The Biden administration has finally realized this is a huge 
political liability. President Biden is going to be on the ballot in 
2024, and he realizes that this is a huge problem for him and everybody 
up and down the ticket because the American people really never 
believed the statement that the border was secure, because they could 
watch on television and watch on social media the huge numbers of 
people coming across. They knew it was not true. But now, after 3 
years, the President has finally come around to admit it. You know we 
talked about the drugs. We have talked about the people. What we 
haven't talked about enough, in my view, is the fact that the Biden 
administration has simply lost track of unaccompanied children who have 
been placed with sponsors in the interior of the United States. The New 
York Times ran several investigative pieces pointing out that 85,000 
calls were made to these sponsors to see, How are these kids doing? And 
the calls were never answered, and they were never followed up on. The 
Biden administration takes the position--I think it is an irresponsible 
position--that once they place these children with sponsors, they have 
washed their hands of any further responsibility--no followup, no 
wellness check if there is no response to the phone call. And the Biden 
administration, apparently, just does not care.

  And then, most recently, we have seen a new low as they falsely 
blamed the State of Texas for three tragic drownings at the border at 
Eagle Pass, TX. A little over a week ago, a woman and two children 
drowned in the Rio Grande River attempting to get across the river. It 
was near a park that is currently the subject of a standoff between 
Federal and State officials.
  Now, migrant deaths are a tragedy. There is no two ways about it. 
And, sadly, it is a too common tale along the border. Migrants 
frequently drown crossing the Rio Grande. In the summer, they may die 
due to the intense heat and from lack of water across remote stretches 
of desert or ranch land. It is an inhospitable place in the heat of 
summer. Some are killed in car accidents in high-speed chases, while 
others are killed while being smuggled into the United States in the 
back of a semitractor trailer.
  Given the skyrocketing number of border crossings on President 
Biden's watch, these sorts of tragedies now seem to happen routinely. 
According to the National Border Patrol Council, roughly 2,300 migrants 
have died at the southern border since President Biden was sworn into 
office. It is an average of more than 2 deaths each day since his open 
border policies have been in place.
  As I said, these deaths are tragic, and they are tragically common. 
But this pace is not. In fact, the pace of migrant deaths has more than 
doubled compared to previous administrations. More and more migrants 
are losing their lives because of the failed open border policies of 
the Biden administration. Yet the Biden administration refuses to take 
responsibility for the dangers their policies have actually created.
  The day after the most recent tragedy in Eagle Pass, the Department 
of Homeland Security put out an outrageous, outrageously false 
statement pinning the blame on the State of Texas and its attempts to 
do what the Biden administration has refused to do, which is to secure 
the border. The statement actually claimed that ``Border Patrol agents 
were physically barred by Texas officials from entering the area.'' It 
went on to describe the efforts by State officials to help manage the 
chaos at the border. They called that ``cruel, dangerous, and 
inhumane.'' In other words, when the Federal Government does nothing 
and the State officials try to step in, the Biden administration calls 
that ``cruel, dangerous, and inhumane.''
  And the White House press machine has been quick to repeat the 
claims, saying:

       Texas officials blocked U.S. Border Patrol from attempting 
     to provide emergency assistance.

  These statements were designed to paint a very specific picture. The 
White House and the Department of Homeland Security tried to portray 
Texas as heartless and cruel for refusing to let Border Patrol agents 
rescue these three migrants in distress.
  The problem with this carefully crafted story line is it is 
absolutely false, but the story spread like wildfire. The Associated 
Press published a story with the headline saying: ``US says Texas 
blocked border agents from entering park to save 3 migrants who 
drowned.'' Countless other news outlets ran similar stories. Social 
media, pundits, and even Members of Congress spread the story and 
criticized the actions by Texas officials.
  Again, the problem is this entire narrative is demonstrably false. It 
is a lie.
  In a new Supreme Court filing, the Biden administration has now 
admitted that the three migrants died before Border Patrol even 
attempted to enter Shelby Park on Friday night. Sadly, they were part 
of the 2,300 migrants who died on President Biden's watch, but it 
didn't have anything to do with what Texas officials were doing. The 
Justice Department now admits that the women and two children died 
around 8 p.m., and the Border Patrol didn't even request access to the 
area until roughly an hour later.
  But by the time this correct and accurate information became public, 
the

[[Page S199]]

damage had already been done. News stories had circulated far and wide 
blaming Texas officials for blocking potentially lifesaving care for a 
woman and two children who drowned.
  Well, did the Biden administration apologize for its false 
accusation? Did it admit that it had perpetrated a false narrative? 
Absolutely not. Then, again, why would you really expect them to? This 
is just another example of the Biden administration that cannot be 
trusted to tell the truth, another example of spreading lies about what 
is happening at the southern border--no remorse, no shame, no 
accountability. The lies, dishonesty, and mischaracterizations have 
become commonplace, and the American people are fed up with them.
  Leaders in the Biden administration have repeatedly intentionally 
misrepresented what is happening. They dissemble; they shift the facts; 
they deflect; they distort the truth; and then they try to pin their 
own failures on somebody else.
  Well, as sad as it is now 3 years into the Biden administration, I am 
glad that the President has finally admitted that the border is not 
secure, and I am really shocked that, 3 years in, he is finally come 
around to admit it.

  But the fact he won't accept the reality that it is his 
administration's policies that created the crisis is a serious problem 
because the status quo at the border is absolutely unsustainable and 
has been for a long time now, and something has got to change.
  As we speak, several of our colleagues are trying to secure an 
agreement on legislation that will address the border crisis. I am sure 
it will fall short of what I would like to see happen, but Senator 
Lankford and Senator Sinema, Senator Murphy, and others are working to 
try to come up with some changes in the law that will force the Biden 
administration to put an end to some of the most egregious practices. 
And I, for one, am eager to see if they can come up with something that 
will force the administration to change its disastrous southern border 
policy, and I will be watching closely with interest as the 
negotiations progress.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Butler). The majority leader.

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